Background information

There have been over 35 Government reviews of Last Resort Home Owners Warranty. Described by Choice magazine as "junk insurance policies", both consumers and builders continue to be adversely impacted in every state except Queensland and Tasmania. (Tasmania only recently dumped warranty insurance, through the lobbying efforts of the Greens and the Builders Collective).

Yet again we were appalled at the comments made by the Deputy President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Victoria when handing down this judgement in March 2009.

“I appreciate this is an unfortunate outcome for the owners, and potentially for other beneficiaries under similar policies of warranty insurance. I agree with counsel for the owners that their inability to recover the costs of the earlier proceeding under the policy means that the fruits of their unsatisfied judgement are effectively lost, and that it is not surprising that homeowners are somewhat disenchanted with the current regime”.

Said Ms Aird, Deputy President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Victoria

This outcome mirrors that of consumers in NSW. A recent case funded by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for one of their own awarded just $60,000 to meet a repair cost of $167,000. This took 6 years! The irony is that even OFT can’t make the scheme work! The house cannot be lived in and the consumer now faces foreclosure because he can’t sustain both mortgage and rental payments.

Had this person lived in Queensland the timeframe would have been 28 days with no cost to him. The Queensland system provides effective industry management and consumer protection.

The Federal Ombudsman's Report of 2008 concludes that this is the worst performing insurance product in Australia by a massive 1250%. These official statistics are undeniable and incontrovertible.

A bipartisan position must be taken to remove Last Resort Mandatory Home Warranty Insurance now.

An email was sent to every State and Federal Politician asking them to vote FOR or AGAINST the removal of Last Resort Home Owners Warranty.

Out of the contacted 680 Australian Federal and State Politicians we had a total of 5 responses

• 3 congratulating us for our position
• 2 hand balling it to a different Minister  

Quite incredible when you consider 37 Government inquiries and tens of thousands of builders, tradesmen and home owners affected.

It seems Government is more in the business of maintaining the status quo then making decisions!

Queensland system better, says builder who fled north

From Canberra Times, KELSEY MUNRO

FORMER western Sydney builder Colin Greville was so fed up with the home warranty insurance scheme in NSW that he moved to Queensland.

"We were originally insured with HIH but when they went down the gurgler it didn't matter that we had a good record; we couldn't get backing from anybody," he says.

"We were resigned to having a builder's licence which only allows you to build things that don't require home warranty insurance. So we spent a while building pergolas, then we left."

Consumer advocates and builders want a Queensland-style system implemented nationwide. In Queensland a one-stop statutory authority, the Building Services Authority, administers consumer insurance as well as builders' licences and dispute resolution.

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Insurers a law unto themselves

INSURANCE companies providing home builders warranty insurance have been allowed to dodge consumer protection and financial disclosure for years because of Federal Government changes to legislation.

The changes have allowed insurance providers to keep hidden their profits and losses - even from government regulators - while also excluding them from any obligation to disclose to consumers the terms and details of the policies they have paid for.

Just how the consumer protection provisions were stripped from an insurance product people are compelled by state law to buy when building or renovating their home is being examined by a Senate inquiry.

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